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We are a few weeks removed from the Donald Sterling situation, and I am finally going to address it, from the perspective of a 21-year-old soon to be college graduate.

Unless you have been living under a rock, then you are very familiar with the Donald Sterling situation. But let’s assume that you have been living under a rock, for conversational purposes.

Donald Sterling is of course the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers (for now) that was recorded making racist remarks in a conversation with his…..girlfriend? Yeah, we will call her that for now. As a result of the private comments made public, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the league for life, and he will begin the process of forcing Sterling to sell the Clippers.

Initially, when the recordings first came out, I was not too surprised at the sentiments expressed by Sterling, mainly because I am pretty sure that he is not the only owner of an organization or company that has these modern day slave-like mentalities and views. The only thing that was surprising was that Sterling was recorded saying those comments, and to an extent, that wasn’t surprising either considering he is old and not too familiar with technology, I would imagine.

Sterling has a history of being prejudice, and that history reared its ugly head thanks to the audio recording. Yes, the woman who recorded him is no Saint, and quite frankly, she has a set of her own issues because she seems very accepting of a man who looks at her as nothing better than someone to sleep with. AND, she also seems to have some deep self-hate if she was willing to be with someone who blatantly disrespects her and her race, or races considering she is mixed with Black and Mexican. But I digress on her.

What the audio recording did was give tangible proof of Sterling’s mindset and beliefs. As we learned when the situation hit the limelight, Sterling has been sued in the past for prejudicial practices, but he settled out of those cases, largely brushing them under the rug with the exception of a few diligent journalists who were not willing to let him off the hook that easily. But with the new-found evidence that proves that he is indeed racist, the league was finally able to put him out, even though actions against him should have been taken a long time ago.

As an African American male, I know how Sterling would view someone like me. I would be nothing more than a “good ol boy” that was just good enough to work under him or make money for him, but not good enough to attend his games or have a public relationship with him, or his side piece. In present day 2014, that is sad, but it is okay because I don’t have to work for him, and I don’t have to take that kind of treatment from a man like him; and neither do the members of the Clippers organization. Had the league not taken substantial actions against Sterling, I would like to believe that not only would the Clippers players had protested, but all members of the NBA community would have joined them in solidarity. Thankfully, with it being playoff season, those actions were not needed.

As far as I am concerned, Sterling’s hate and disdain for minorities is only going to hurt himself. For a man like that, all you can do is pray that he has a change of heart, but after 80 years on this earth, I doubt that will happen.